Monday

* History Of Christianity In America!

7 comments:

I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [Jesus Christ]: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God."

That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell.

You must make your choice. Either this Man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse ....

You can shut Him up for fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that option open to us. He did not intend to.

-- From C.S. Lewis(Author of The Chronicles of Narnia)

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"Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (John 17:3)."

- - - The Laws and Statutes of Harvard College in 1643

"All scholars shall live religious, godly, and blameless lives according to the rules of God's Word, diligently reading the Holy Scriptures, the fountain of light and truth; and constantly attend upon all the duties of religion, both in public and secret."

Click HereThis government site offers access to historic documents.View the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

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'Thought & Humor' - often polemical but never tasteless/unrefined/uncouth/ribald.

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Examining Our Laughter

“Laughter,” writes my colleague, Mark Eckel, “is an indicationof ethics. Watching a Jay Leno monologue,” he continues,“forces us to laugh at the ethical lapses in peoples’ attitudesand actions.” But, he suggests, we need to monitor our laughter.There may just be, in his words, “a guide for Christians to explainwhen laughter is ethically appropriate and when it is not.”

Everyone who has attended a movie theater has probably had theexperience of listening to a part of the audience laugh at incidentsin the movie which are not funny, things like violence to a particularindividual or cruelty to an animal. Such laughter leaves one chilled.And it is an indication of our society that such laughter is growingmore frequent. But, before we look to the culture at large, it is muchmore important to analyze ruthlessly just what we are laughing at,particularly on television and in our private conversations with ourfriends.

Eckel, quoted earlier, compares the potential difference in ourlaughter at two television sitcoms: The Simpsons, a much-writtenabout sitcom among Christians because of its witty but ironicportrayal of, in Eckel’s words, “the dark side of human nature,”and Will and Grace, a program that seeks to make the homosexuallifestyle and all sexually active characters benign and, therefore,acceptable. In The Simpsons, Eckel notes, “the inconsistenciesand hypocrisies of all groups and individuals in American cultureare pointed out… using sardonic wit… to mirror shortcomings,creating a climate for change” through the viewer’s “distressand unease [at] seeing wrongdoing in both attitude and action.”In contrast, Will and Grace promotes the acceptance of its charactersand their lifestyles through “self-deprecating” laughter that “cutsoff the rough edges and softens [the viewer’s] attitudes” by makingthe characters endearing and “excluding the consequences of [their]behavior.”

This is very wise analysis, one we must take seriously. T. S. Eliotsaid long ago that what entertains us, what we laugh at, may justaffect us more than what we study or labor over because our spiritsand minds are relaxed and receptive. We have turned our mentalsecurity systems off and what amuses may seem somehow too trivialto harm us. There is no part of our lives that does not, however, belongto God. We must never bypass our intellects or suspend our critical thinkingability even in our laughter. Laughter has the power, as in The Simpsons,to be a cultural commentary that brings understanding and conviction,and it has the power, as in Will and Grace, to seduce and soothe one intoindifference to dangerous secular trends.

The question is crucial: What are we laughing at and why?

- Dr.Rosalie de Rosset

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Please note: If you see a UNC student or liberal reading 'Thought & Humor', please explain to them which is thought & which is humor. They usually get it backwards.......

"Not being on the air, that's not important. But I'd like to be in the newsroom helping set the agenda."

Retired CBS Anchorman Walter Cronkite

{Dear Walter, Fair news knows no agenda - Prof Howdy}

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The Bible claims to be the Word of the only true God. In addition tohistorical, archaeological, and scientific proofs, there are numerousinternal proofs. No such evidences exist for other "sacred writings." The Bible was written during 1,600 years by 40 prophets, most of whom lived in diverse cultures, at different times in history, yet who never contradict but complement each other. For the Qur'an, Muslims must take the word of Muhammad, just as the Book of Mormon rests solely upon Joseph Smith's word. But every biblical prophet is confirmed by 39 other prophets. - - Dave Hunt

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God designed humans to want to believe in something. That's the image of God that is in us. But as G. K. Chesterton famously put it, when we reject the God of the Bible, we don't believe in nothing; we believe in everything -- including Little Green Men.

- - Chuck Colson

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Dear Professor Howdy,

Thank you for your simply addicting newsletter...it's truly a candidate for the 8th wonder of the world and 1st candidate for the cyber-world...it just keeps blooming with more of what I need and, I think, what we all need...please keep up the great works!!!

Type atcha later...

God bless you,

Phil HWI

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Dear Dr. Howdy, Indeed I am a faithful Tarheel*, having both MA and Ph.D. from their fine chemistry department. But that doesn't keep me from getting a great kick out of the humor propagated by what appears to me to be a pack of wolves!!**

SERIOUSLY, THE HUMOR IS GREAT FUN BUT MY MAIN ATTRACTION WAS TO THE CONSERVATIVE MORAL AND POLITICAL STANCE THAT SEEMED TO CHARACTERIZE THE FIRST ISSUE I SAW. INCIDENTALLY (HE SAYS ACCIDENTALLY!), it was sent to me by a friend, so I really didn't "hear about you" at all, and still haven't. All I know is what has come in the two issues of the Newsletter I have seen. The best to you.

{Double click this link or copy and paste this link into your Web Browser's address line for more info - Not amalgamated with 'Thought & Humor' in any way - but should be}

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Board of Advisors for 'Thought & Humor':

Did you know that 'Thought & Humor' has a distinguished Board of Advisorsthat are designed to be a cross section demographically of our readership as far as age, location, gender, marital status, education & occupation are concerned???

"I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book." -- President Abraham Lincoln

"For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world."--John Winthrop, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1630

"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible." - President George Washington

"The Bible is no mere book, but a Living Creature, with a power that conquers all that oppose it." - Napoleon

"That Book accounts for the supremacy of England." - Queen Victoria

"If there is anything in my thought or style to commend , the credit is due my parents for instilling in me an early love of the Scriptures. If we abide by the principals taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us andbury all our glory in profound obscurity." - Daniel Webster (Founding Father)

"The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed." - Patrick Henry (original member of the Continental Congress)

"The Bible is the anchor of our liberties." - President U.S. Grant

"It is impossible to enslave mentally or socially a Bible-reading people. The principals of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom." - Horace Greeley (Editor)

"That Book is the rock on which our Republic rests." - President Andrew Jackson

"In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give melight and strength." - Gen. Robert E. Lee

"Bible reading is an education in itself." - Lord Tennyson (Poet)

"So great is my veneration for the Bible that the earlier my children beginto read it the more confident will be my hope that they will prove usefulcitizens of their country and respectable members of society. I have formany years made it a practice to read through the Bible once every year."- President John Quincy Adams

"The existence of the Bible, as a Book for the people, is the greatestbenefit which the human race has ever experienced. Every attempt to belittle it is a crime against humanity." - Immanuel Kant (Philosopher)

"The New Testament is the very best Book that ever or ever will be known in the world." - Charles Dickens (Author)

"All human discoveries seem to be made only for the purpose of confirming more and more strongly the truths contained in the Sacred Scriptures." - Sir William Herschel (Astronomer)

"There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history." - Sir Isaac Newton (Scientist)

"Let mental culture go on advancing, let the natural sciences progress in even greater extent and depth, and the human mind widen itself as much as it desires; beyond the elevation and moral culture of Christianity, as it shines forth in the Gospels, it will not go." - Goethe (Author)

"I have known ninety-five of the world's great men in my time, and of these eight-seven were followers of the Bible. The Bible is stamped with a Specialty of Origin, and an immeasurable distance separates it from all competitors." - W.E. Gladstone (Prime Minister)

"Whatever merit there is in anything that I have written is simply due to the fact that when I was a child my mother daily read me a part of the Bible and daily made me learn a part of it by heart." - John Ruskin (art critic and social commentator)

"The Bible has been the Magna Charta of the poor and oppressed. The human race is not in a position to dispense with it." - Thomas Huxley (Author & Scientist)

"The whole hope of human progress is suspended on the ever growing influence of the Bible." - W.H. Seward (Secretary of State)

"America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness, which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scriptures. Part of the destiny of Americans lies in their daily perusal of this great book of revelations. That if they would see America free and pure they will make their own spirits free and pure by this baptism of the Holy Spirit."--President Woodrow Wilson

For Christians, the life and death of Jesus are the ultimate expressions of love, and the supreme demonstrations of God's mercy, faithfulness, and redemption. Since Christ's miraculous Resurrection on Easter, more than 2,000 years ago, Christians have expressed joy and gratitude for this wondrous sacrifice and for God's promise of freedom for the oppressed, healing for the brokenhearted, and salvation. --President George W. Bush

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here." --Patrick Henry (original member of the Continental Congress)

Q: What if I can't read all of it? A: Delete it. Most folks don't read every word in every newspaper/magazine either?

Q: Am I required to memorize each article? A: Nope! Delete what you don't have time for or save for another time.

Q: Is 'T & H' Spam?A: No, it's made entirely of ham.

Q: Can I forward to friends & family? A: Please do.

Q: How many people have had opportunity to read 'T & H' E-Mail Newspapers? A: Well over 1 million + many forwards by you.

Q: Who is Prof Howdy?A: We let him think he's the boss...

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Take the best medicine of all for what ails you -- laughter:

"A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs--jolted by every pebble in the road."~Henry Ward Beecher"Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects."--Arnold Glasow"Laughter is by definition healthy."--Doris Lessing"If somebody makes me laugh, I'm his slave for life."--Bette Midler"The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter."--Mark Twain "What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul."-- Yiddish Proverb"Laughter is an instant vacation."-- Milton Berle "Laughter is the shortest distance between two people."-- Victor Borge

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under theheaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a timeto pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; atime to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. (King Solomon)

NOTICE: The jokes, pictures, cartoons & general content published in this list were either submitted directly to 'Thought & Humor' or as, we believe, in the public domain. If you think that we have published any posting (including videos) on our award winning blog without giving proper credit to its author/owner, please let us know and we will provide appropriate credit in a future mailing.

But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My Name may be declared in all the earth. Ex 9:16

And this Good News about the Kingdom will be preached through all the world for a witness to all people; and then the end will come. Mat 24:14

2) For the wages of above (see #1) are DEATH (Hell, eternal separation from God, & damnation) but the Gift (free & at no charge to you) of God (Creator, Jehovah, & Trinity) is Eternal Life (Heaven) through (in union with) Jesus Christ (God, Lord, 2nd Person of The Trinity, Messiah, Prince of Peace & Savior of the World).

This wonderful loving GOD gives you the choice - - -(Rev. 3:20) {Please note that church membership, baptism, doing good things, etc. are not requirements for becoming a Christian -however they are great afterwards!!!}

Jesus said, "Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction (Hell, damnation, eternal punishment), and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life (Heaven, eternal happiness, forever with God), and only a few find it. --Matthew 7:13-14

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The E-Mail Newspaper containing 'Thought & Humor' is sent out FREE via e-mail w/o ads. This information was sent to you because you made the request, 'Thought & Humor' is one small attempt to obey The Great Com-mission. First published in the last century (July 26, 1997). Soli Deo Gloria... ________ E-Mail Newspaper (Free4u) _________References gleaned for great humor & information: Merry Heart, Buffalosjokes, Funny List, MeMail, Daily Dose, Joke of the Day, Kim Komando, MIKEY'S FUNNIES , The Daily Tease, Crosswalk.com, CLEAN LAFFS & Gophercentral.

Quoting one is plagiarism; quoting many is research.

'Thought & Humor' respects your privacy and wishes to honor your desires to not receive e-mail from us if that's your choice, and we apologize if any message causes any inconvenience to you or your computer. We have never given any reader's e-mail addresses to a third party & have no plans to do such unless the price is right:o) (Liberals please note - that was humor) The E-Mail Newspaper is sent to you with love.

But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My Name may be declared in all the earth. Ex 9:16

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Here's some blogs that I foundof interest as I negotiated my waythrough cyberspace:

But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him you will have life. Jn 20:31

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed." Is 55

O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in -behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.Ps 139

When I survey the wondrous crossOn which the Prince of Glory died,My richest gain I count but loss,And pour contempt on all my pride.

O God, You have taught me from my youth; And to this day I declare Your wondrous works. Now also when I am old and gray headed, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come.Ps 71

Someone said that the meaning of grace comes in three parts: "Grace means you don't do anything; you don't do anything; you don't do anything."

Grace is God's free gift and not something we can achieve (Ephesians 2:8-9). The old hymn says, "Jesus paid it all." We talk about the sufficiency of Jesus' suffering on the cross. His suffering and death atoned for sin and brings us to God. For Christians this is a settled point. Jesus suffered judgment to redeem his people.

And then we come to Colossians 1:24:

"Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church."

Is Paul really saying what he seems to be saying? What could Paul possibly mean that he's filling up what's lacking in the suffering of Christ? Did Paul think Jesus didn't do enough?

Let me set you at ease: Paul thought Jesus did enough.

Yet Paul suffered — apparently Paul had to suffer for the sake of the Church. And Christians through ages have suffered for the sake of the Church. And I believe that you and I suffer — or at least we can suffer — for the sake of the Church as well.

Since we're not good at talking about suffering, let me begin with more familiar ground: evangelism.

A friend called me excitedly. "I had lunch with someone I recently met and I led him to Christ right there in the restaurant." We talk that way: "I led my friend to Christ." We understand what that means knowing, I hope, that it's inaccurate language.

You have never led anyone to Christ. Not your friend, not your sister, not your children, not your parents. But don't feel badly about it. Billy Graham has never led anyone to Christ either. In fact the only one who leads people to Christ is God the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit opening people's eyes to their need for Christ and their ears to the Gospel, no one would ever be converted.

St. Paul knew that too. And yet he wrote, "We proclaim [Jesus], admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me" (Colossians 1:28-29). He labored and struggled so that people might know Christ while believing all along that it is the Holy Spirit who converts. This is an example of Francis Schaeffer's notion that while God is sovereign, you and I are not zeros. We make a difference.

So while only the Holy Spirit leads people to Christ, we have a share in that work that is 100 percent His. God's Word of redemption and life rides on our words thus making us partners in the work that is entirely God's.

Does that sound like a mystery? It deepens when we turn to suffering.

If I lose a job I reflexively ask, "What is God teaching me?" If my elderly parents need care I ask, "How is God using this in my life?" If a child is in an automobile accident I want to know, "What is God teaching our family?"

And the Bible encourages us to ask those questions. Hebrews 12:7-8, James 1:2-4, and other texts tell us that God uses our suffering to discipline us. God's discipline then brings about our full salvation which includes holiness. That is, suffering is redemptive in our lives.

And yet, we argue, if Jesus suffered on the cross and paid it all, why should I have to suffer? Couldn't he bring about my full salvation without the suffering part?

I suppose so, but it's a cross, not a magic wand. Whether we like it or not, just as Jesus "learned obedience by what he suffered" (Hebrews 5:8), you and I must learn obedience by what we suffer. While our salvation is entirely the work of God through the suffering of Jesus, our suffering is somehow required as well. God is sovereign, but you and I are not zeros.

This brings me back to Paul's words in Colossians 1:24. Could it be that just as my suffering is required in my own salvation, my suffering is also required in the salvation of others?

Father Damian was a missionary in the 1870s who worked in the leper colony on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai. Week by week, he preached addressing the people as "you lepers." Nothing much happened until the day came when he stood up to preach and began with the words, "We lepers." He had contracted the disfiguring and fatal disease himself.

The beginning of Father Damian's suffering marked the beginning of a great revival in that village of the dying. Father Damian's suffering proved to be redemptive for others. That is because Christian suffering is never suffering in a vacuum. He — and we — suffer with Jesus.

If we offer our suffering to God, that suffering is caught up into Christ's suffering on the cross. It is ennobled. It is made glorious. It becomes like His suffering — a suffering for the salvation of the world.

My friend Peggy lost her only child, a 28-year-old daughter, to cancer. As she mourned and suffered she poured her broken heart out to God. She offered herself and her suffering to Him just as Jesus did on the cross.

That hasn't made her suffering any easier, but now everywhere she goes she meets people who have lost adult children to death. I don't meet those people — or if I do, I don't know about it. Peggy sits next to them on airplanes, meets them in the supermarket, and bumps into them on vacation. She shares their suffering and offers them Christ and His comfort. Her suffering, united with Christ's suffering has meant salvation for many. She's filling up "what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions."

Don't misunderstand me. Nothing, absolutely nothing is missing from Christ's once-and-for-all sacrifice on the cross. Nothing. And yet just as we have to open our mouths and share the message of the cross if others are going to come to know Christ, so apparently our suffering is involved as well. Just as our words in evangelism are a sharing of his Word, so our suffering is a sharing in his suffering, our brokenness a sharing in his brokenness, our deaths a sharing in his death for the salvation of the world.

If we take our suffering and unite it with his — offering our pain to Jesus for His use and His glory even as He offered His pain to the Father — our suffering is transformed and the world around us will be transformed as well. Like Paul's suffering, it will "fill up what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, the Church," completing that which is, paradoxically, complete all by itself.

Richard John Neuhaus wrote in Death on a Friday Afternoon:

It is not that Christ did not do enough, but that he invites us to participate with him in the salvation of the world. When Jesus calls us, he calls us to come and die. We will die anyway. The question is whether we will die senselessly or as companions and coworkers of the crucified and risen Lord.

And before we die, we will suffer anyway. It's a fact of life in this broken world. The question is whether we will suffer senselessly or for the salvation of the world as companions and coworkers of the Suffering Servant who is the crucified and risen Lord.

How To Become A Christian! http://youtu.be/S65wsCbmRPwDoes Anyone Still Read The Bible? http://youtu.be/NEPlhgBA46QWhen Should A Person Be Baptized? http://youtu.be/tVruBKyUkxIWhen Will Jesus Come Back? http://youtu.be/QP_FnzTnigwDoes The Bible Ever Say That Jesus Is God? http://youtu.be/sgAtJHxVPnsWhat In The World Is Worldview? http://youtu.be/vleoAho03bY

There's a Goldmine Of Romantic Music that is in the process of being LOST forever. Music written in the first halfof the Last Century offers Romance,Beauty & Great Lyrics that incorporates a Happy, Uplifting & Positive Worldviewthat is quite rare today.

The Music in this 15 Minute Video offers you unrealized Romantic Beauty yet witha Contemporary Story that your mindcomposes as it views the High DefinitionPhotographs and Captivating Videos!

This Elegant & Enticing Music was first recorded on 33 1/3 Phonographs, transferredto Cassette Tape, then C.D.s and finallyto my Computer so the quality is notparadigmatic.

Perhaps one day, others will discoverthis Enchanting Treasure and this musicwill become more available on the Internet. Even better would be if new Mantovanis,Percy Faiths, Norman Luboffs, ArthurFiedlers, etc. would discover and record with a fresh talent true to the original intent these Romantic and Rapturous Delights!

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